


without a single string attached

by DuendeJunior



Category: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: Domesticity, Established Relationship, F/F, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Just to be safe, Non-Sexual Intimacy, not between utena and anthy, unsure if this is fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:20:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24941473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DuendeJunior/pseuds/DuendeJunior
Summary: Anthy could tease and say Utena is indeed a miracle worker – she just has to look at where they are and where they started. And Utena would laugh, sheepish, and get up just to stick her tongue at her.But today Anthy feels gentle, not teasing, so she just lets her lips curl up in a small smile and finishes braiding her hair.-Anthy considers the possibility of choice.
Relationships: Himemiya Anthy/Tenjou Utena
Comments: 3
Kudos: 39





	without a single string attached

**Author's Note:**

> today I finished my on-and-off utena rewatch (which was EXTREMELY ON for the past few days) and then I remembered this has been languishing on my drafts since uhhhhhhhh last year?  
> so now I am once again feeling anthy feelings and utena/anthy feelings and I can AND will inflict them on everyone else  
> title from _Sleeping At Last - Two_

“Haaaaaa, I’m beat,” says Utena, leaving her bag by the door and throwing herself on the queen-sized bed. Anthy watches her through the vanity mirror, and tries to hide her amusement at Utena’s half-hearted attempts to take off her shoes behind a handful of hair.

“How were the kids today?” She asks. It’s a day where she doesn’t feel compelled to add “Utena-sama” to the end of every sentence, where she can easily cast off the feeling she should be docile, deferential. She can just ask questions, and Utena will answer.

Maybe someday she’ll get to have that every day. But even if she doesn't, the progress still pleases her.

“Rowdy, of course.” Utena stretches, and the room is small enough for her toes to touch Anthy’s back when she does that. Anthy stiffles a giggle, not wishing to interrupt her. “The girls finally won a match against the boys and now everyone thinks I’m a miracle worker.”

Without looking back, Anthy knows Utena is pulling a face.

“It’s weird because I’m just trying not to be a colossal asshole like the last teacher, but,” she stops. “It’s also… Good?”

Anthy could tease and say Utena is indeed a miracle worker – she just has to look at where they are and where they started. And Utena would laugh, sheepish, and get up just to stick her tongue at her.

But today Anthy feels gentle, not teasing, so she just lets her lips curl up in a small smile and finishes braiding her hair. “Maybe some of them might make to the professional league in the future. Did you ever imagine that?”

“That would be the coolest thing, wouldn’t it.” The bedsprings squeak, and she watches as Utena jumps gracefully off the bed. She brings one arm closer to her nose and her whole face scrunches up. “Ugh, I need a shower.”

She proceeds to not move an inch towards the bathroom door.

“Do you need anything from here?” Anthy asks, turning around to look at _her_ instead of the reflection in the mirror.

“Yes… I mean, maybe,” Utena says. She’s long traded her long hair for a pixie cut, which looks devastating when paired with her face, but isn’t the best choice for nervous fiddling, so she fidgets in place instead, standing on the balls of her foot and then back with both feet planted on the carpet. “I just want to know if we could… You know… Shower together?” She doesn’t quite meet Anthy’s eyes. “It’s cool if you don’t want, I just – I just missed you.”

Anthy is always at a loss of words when Utena says things like this.

Not the invitation itself – Utena has extended it to her many times now, and it amazes Anthy every time how comfortable it feels to share the small bathtub with her and let Utena’s hands rub circles on her scalp and trace paths down her back.

What makes her pause is having a choice on the matter.

If she says _no_ , Utena will say it’s fine and head to the bathroom alone, and later they’ll burrow under the covers side by side and talk about nosy neighbors and Anthy’s new roses and how bad the lunches at the school cafeteria are and nonsense about elephants and kangaroos until they fall asleep. If she says _no_ , she still gets to keep this, the cocoon of safety they’ve been building for themselves for days, weeks, months. Years.

If she says _no_ , it's not the end of the world

Anthy blinks up at Utena and catalogs everything about her: her work clothes, the nails which she can’t keep herself from biting, her slightly cracked lips, the blister on the side of her toe. The vibrant pink of her hair and the smell of her sweat. The warmth in her blue eyes. Her sharp edges, which will never be sharper than the ones Anthy has.

Her smile grows, and she extends a hand for Utena to take.

“Of course, Utena” she says. “I missed you too.”


End file.
